Short-sighted soldier shoots dead a sergeant he mistook for wooden target

A BRITISH army sergeant was shot dead by a short-sighted soldier who thought he was aiming at a wooden target, a military inquiry has found.

Gavin Hillier, from the Welsh Guards, was killed during a night exercise on an army rifle range in Pembrokeshire in Wales.

The father-of-two died almost instantly after the soldier, identified only as Guardsman 1, fired the fatal shot while not wearing glasses.

A Service Inquiry report revealed the soldier’s vision was so poor he was initially refused entry into the Welsh Guards and was allowed to join only after being given corrective lenses.

The report says that because of medical confidentiality, army medics could not inform Guardsman 1’s chain of command that he needed to wear glasses. Instead it was the guardsman’s responsibility to do so.

Sgt Hillier, 35, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, was acting as a safety supervisor when he was killed in March last year. He was wearing a high-visibility jacket and a red glow stick was strapped to his helmet. He was also wearing body armour. But the report makes clear the soldier who shot him could not distinguish between him and a wooden training target.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned and police have opened a criminal inquiry but no arrests have been made. Sgt Hillier’s widow, Karyn, has seen the Service Inquiry report but said it was too soon to comment on it.

After her husband’s death, she and sons Declan and Connor said: ‘We are absolutely heartbroken and can’t express how proud we are of you. Our boys will continue to make you proud and you will forever live on through them.’

The UK Ministry of Defence has declined to reveal what has happened to Guardsman 1. An army spokesman said: ‘We are supporting the ongoing investigation into the incident so it would be inappropriate to comment further.’